I don’t really like to do these “monthly tip” posts, they’re kind of boring. That said I think spring and fall month tips may provide us garden “addicts” some reminders. Not to mention I am buried with some great projects at work so I need a quick post!
So here we go, some basic tips/reminders for September or fall gardening:
- Now is a great time to plant trees, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, grass seed and sod.
- Plant hardy Mums now.
- Do not prune Azaleas, Rhododendrons and other spring flowering shrubs because they have already set their buds for next year's blooms. If you do, you will sacrifice next spring flowers.
- Time to feed your plants with a good quality, slow release plant food made for perennials and flowering shrubs and trees for overall plant growth and development, OR get together that compost you worked so hard on all summer and mix it into your soil around said plants!
- Transplant iris & peonies or divide them if you wish to multiply your plants.
- Put away your beetle traps, citronella candles, rodent traps, etc… until next year.
- Fall is the best time to seed your lawn. This includes both seeding a new lawn and reseeding or overseeding an established lawn to crowd out weeds and make it thicker and healthier.
- You can lime, fertilize & seed your lawn all in the same day, OR seed and fertilize the same day and then lime later.
- Aerate and/or de-thatch your lawn. If you decide to do one or both of these, they should be done prior to seeding. Thoroughly soak the soil a day or two before you start your project or perform your project a day or two after a good rain.
- Now is also a good time to “weed and feed” your lawn however, you must wait to seed your lawn. Or, if you seed first, you’ll need to wait until the new seed has germinated and been mowed at least twice before applying a weed killer.
- Time to bring houseplants back indoors. Fertilize your houseplants through November, and then stop feeding them until February.
- Buy your spring flowering bulbs, although it might be just a bit early to plant them, you don’t want to miss out on the best quality bulbs.
- Start collecting or direct sowing seeds, for example my purple coneflowers have all gone to seed so I let them sit for a little bit for the birds, and now I’m collecting a lot of the seeds. I did learn a new trick from @MrBrownThumb (http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/) you can direct sow the seeds of coneflowers, just stick the entire seed head in the ground and watch it grow!
- Cut seed heads from Rose of Sharron, or you will have an ocean of seedlings in the spring!!
So that’s it, I know, I know you already knew all this, but maybe I reminded some or maybe you learned something new. In any case enjoy the nice, cool fall gardening days, the more you do now the less you’ll have to do in the spring!!!
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